Queen ApisM

I'm only 5 weeks out from surgery, and I am already wishing I had done this sooner. Obviously will have to reassess this in the future as time progresses. I think many of us on this board are very experienced at losing weight - sometimes massive amounts. The issue is we are also pros at gaining it back, usually with extra lbs tacked on top of what we originally lost. The long term success rates for people losing large amounts of weight and keeping it off without surgery are low - I can't recall the percentage but I think less than 5%. Biologically, there are a lot of factors that make it extremely difficult (but not impossible) to be have long term success the "normal" way of losing. Surgery isn't guaranteed to keep it off, but it is a tool that helps make it more likely - both in terms of the way it changes your eating but also the changes it can cause biologically that we have no control over. This isn't to say you should get the surgery, but more to suggest perhaps discussing these issues with the bariatric PA and doing you own research to arm you with all the data around what might get you were you want to be permanently. It's a very personal decision and you have to be ready to do it or else it won't be successful.

I'm 5 weeks out, and I don't have much desire to eat. Sometimes I get an empty feeling that might be hunger (I'm not sure) but unlike the olden days I can just ignore it and move on. I have no cravings and very little interest in food. Like others have said, I find this liberating! It's so nice to not obsess about food. I'm sure this won't last, so I am taking advantage of it as long as it does. I'd rather feel like this than be hungry all the time. Even though I am not interested in food or eating, I still eat to a schedule and track all my intake, focusing on water and protein goals. The structure is helpful for me. Sometimes, I set reminders for myself using the Echo/Alexa, reminding myself to drink (after the 30 min post food wait), reminding myself to eat a planned snack or meal, etc. It is helpful when my body doesn't signal me.

Agree with others here. This was my first surgery with general anesthesia. One minute the anesthesiologist was talking to me and I was taking deep breaths with the oxygen mask, and then next it was over. It definitely is like a weird time jump. No dreams while being under. It's like snap you are asleep and don't know it, then snap you are sort of awake, though I was definitely was disoriented when I first woke up, and I just kept dozing on and off for a long time afterwards.

Don't let this derail what you want to accomplish for yourself. At the end of the day, this surgery and losing weight is about you. Don't let anyone steal that and make it about them, which is exactly what he is doing. What were your goals for this surgery? Better health? Living longer? Being able to more easily shop for cute clothes? Being able to more easily do things you want to do? Whatever they were, if he is a true partner he should want those things for you as well, and support you to get there. If he can't do that, well that speaks to a deeper problem. Now, as others said, he may be insecure and scared, which is understandable since change is scary. But, as an adult he needs to understand that and work through it. If he isn't willing to do that... whether through self introspection, counseling or some other method, well, then I'd question how strong the relationship really is and if he is worth it. You deserve to have what you want. Don't forget that! Good luck.

My practice does 10 days Lovenox post discharge for lower BMI patients, and 14 days post discharge for higher BMI patients like me. I really dreaded each and every one of those injections and celebrated when that last syringe was used. I think the protocol used to be different, pre-COVID, but they mentioned that they'd seen an increase in unusual post-surgery clots during COVID (I'm not sure if this was just with bariatric surgeries - I assume it was just across the board for surgeries) and so they adjusted on the side of caution.

The first night after VSG, I had terrible pain in my shoulder/neck area. I also had back discomfort and couldn't get comfortable. I was pretty miserable that first night and it wasn't from my incisions or my tummy. Looking back, I realize now it was probably from the gas. I was pretty out of it the day of surgery so I didn't walk around much except to the restroom so it was all trapped inside me and moved to various places. Once I started moving and getting the air out from Day 2 onward it improved until it was gone after a few days.

I was self pay for my sleeve - my employer-paid insurance plan had a specific exclusion against bariatric surgery. All in all, it was just under $20k. Had a stuck to my original practice, it would have been much closer to $30k (I'm in the Washington, DC area). Timing from start to finish is hard to comment on in my case... I switched practices at the beginning of COVID so that slowed things down incredibly. And then I was a bit slow in getting some of the requirements done (like getting my endoscopy, etc) because life and work got crazy. If I had been more on top of that sort of thing, it would have been faster esp with no insurance involved.

This happened to me. I decided to change the practice I was going with right at the beginning of COVID. When I submitted the paperwork, I was one weight (my early pandemic, too anxious to eat low). Flash forward to my first surgeon consult which was 4 months later (thanks COVID) I was 10 lbs heavier - my early pandemic anxiety and inability to eat had gone out the window and I regained the 5 lbs I lost due to stress plus another pandemic fifteen. In the end I wound up around 20 lbs heavier than when I submitted the paperwork originally. In the end, it didn't affect anything but I was self pay and not at the mercy of an insurance company. It probably would have been different if I wasn't self pay. My surgeon did have me attend more nutrition sessions, but they were useful so I didn't mind at all. I'll also add that my lack of success before surgery didn't affect how I did with the pre-op diet and now post surgery. For someone who was having so much trouble during the process, once I had my date and had to start my pre-op diet, I was 100% all in and super careful about everything. I wound up losing 11 lbs in the two weeks before surgery. Do your best - it's all you can do. These are extremely difficult times we are living in.

I just had surgery on Aug 16th. I'll be honest - I planned on reading and futzing around on my phone/tablet at the hospital, but I did nothing. I didn't even turn the TV on, which is weird because at home I am always listening to music, having the TV on, reading, something. The first day I was dozing in and out and the second day I was so focused on trying to drink and taking small walks around the ward that it seemed to fill the hours. Bring something you can entertain yourself with (books, tablet, whatever) but don't be surprised if you don't touch it much. Once I got home, I did a lot of reading, writing and jigsaw puzzling. I had all these other plans of what I would do with the extra time, but honestly again I was so consumed with trying to get all my fluids in, as well as napping now again, that I just let my body guide my decision making on what to do or not do. Especially in the first week - it got better in week two, I felt like much less of a slug.